Why I'm Blogging

Graduation is just around the corner. (It's less than 20 days away at this point!) It's hard for me to believe that 4 years have gone by so quickly, and I haven't really come to grips with the fact that I'm moving on from Tallahassee so soon. In many ways, it feels like the end of any other school year...a break for the summer, some fun vacations, beach days at home in South Florida, maybe time to read a book or two...Here's the part that's different though. At the end of the summer, I won't be making the 7 hour drive back to Tallahassee. I won't be listening to Spanish podcasts as I pass Orlando; I won't be trying to take pictures of the sunset and wildflowers as I drive along I-75; and I won't be sighing as I pass the stadium thinking, "I wonder how many games I'll go to this year?" If you had asked me a year ago where I would be after graduation, I would have told you, "I really don't know." If you had prodded me a little further to take a guess, I probably would have told you I'd like to be teaching English in Spain. Or, I might have said I would try to get a job at an elementary school somewhere in Florida. Those were really the only two things on my radar at the time. So now, when I tell you, "I'm going to be teaching middle school in Bolivia this fall," I still smile, laugh, and roll my eyes a little because it just feels unreal. But it is real! At the end of July, I will be moving to La Paz, Bolivia to teach middle school at Highlands International School (more details coming soon!). No, I have never been to Bolivia. Yes, I am excited. Yes, I am nervous! (But I am more nervous about teaching in general than I am about the fact that I'm going to be teaching in Bolivia...) And that is why I'm blogging. I hope to share this exciting adventure with anyone who is interested in following along and journeying a little closer to the sunshine (and the penguins!) with me via the wonderful World Wide Web.